The End is in Sight!

No, not the end of the world - although sometimes the news of the day suggests the distinct possibility we will destroy each other and the earth.

It is almost the end of the construction chaos in our home. Our choices were to stretch it out over the summer and fall - or to get it done as quickly as possible. Stretching it out would have enabled us to continue writing and engage in a semblance of normal life. But the downside was living in the mess a lot longer. The choice we made was to work seven days a week, fall into bed at night exhausted, and manage only to continue to connect with close friends. "Normal life" it has not been!

Rather, the suspension of the life we usually live has had its benefits. A time of reflection about what really matters for both of us. It is so easy to get "too busy." Then the calender and commitments run us, instead of us making conscious choices about how we live. And fasting from writing made me realize how much I love to write. I am eager to return to writing. This blog today is the first step.

There were some valuable learnings in the construction process. We both regained life-long construction skills, but realize our bodies do not have the stamina and strength they once had. Remodeling both bathroom and kitchen at the same time may have been more efficient. But I'm not sure I would ever recommend it under any circumstances! We have remodeled and built before, but never working side-by-side with a contractor, who sets the pace and arranges subcontractors such as plumbers and electricians.

It has been great fun living in the physicality of the concrete world - far different from our lives of writing, teaching, and photography. Planning construction design and having "1/32th of an inch conversations" requires intellectual input. But it uses other parts of the brain than the abstract intellectual world that is so important to both of us.

The hardest part was not the physical effort. It was the benign neglect of our beloved garden - necessary because we did not have the energy (or time) to both construct and garden. It literally hurt me inside to walk around and see things suffering because I was not giving them needed care. And it emphasized how important the connection with the natural world is to me. Fortunately, the crazy cool weather, the uncertain spring, and summer finally arriving here at the end of June helped.Perennials adjusted their usual rhythm to wait for warmer weather.

And yesterday I noticed something I'd never seen before. Field daisies bless us with their cheerful faces in early June and then we cut them back after they make seed for next year's plants. I had clipped back a group near the path leading into one garden. And they decided to bloom a second time this year, being equally confused about the weather as the local weathermen are. Daisies blooming in July? A sweet gift indeed.

How like all of our lives. We have our routines and patterns, so familiar and automatic that we don't even think of them. Then along comes something that disrupts our usual ways of being. In the end, may we be like the daisies - and bloom again in July.